<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><title>Forming a Network</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.76.1"><meta name="keywords" content="Intellon, Atheros, Qualcomm, HomePlug, powerline, communications, INT6000, INT6300, INT6400, AR7400, AR7420"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="Qualcomm Atheros Open Powerline Toolkit"><link rel="up" href="ch05.html" title="Chapter 5.  Procedures"><link rel="prev" href="ch05s05.html" title="Browse the Network"><link rel="next" href="ch05s07.html" title="Configuring a Device"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">
			Forming a Network                     
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		Procedures 
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			Forming a Network                     
			</h2></div></div></div><p>
			A powerline network is formed when two or more devices share a common Network Membership Key (<acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym>). An <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> is always 16 bytes (32 hexadecimal digits) in length and can have any value,  including all zeros. Devices programmed with the same <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> value can communicate while those programmed with different <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> values cannot. Program <a class="ulink" href="int6k.7.html" target="_top">int6k</a> can be used to program a local or remote device with a specific <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> value.
			</p><div class="example"><a name="idp22288112"></a><p class="title"><b>Example 5.9. 
				Setting the Network Membership Key
				</b></p><div class="example-contents"><pre class="screen">
# int6k -M 
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Set Local Network Membership Key
eth1 00:B0:52:BA:BA:56 Setting ...
</pre></div></div><br class="example-break"><p>
			This example programs the local device with the default <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym>. Option <strong class="userinput"><code>-M</code></strong> sets the network membership key with the default key value. The default key is used because we omitted option <strong class="userinput"><code>-K</code></strong> and the local device is programmed because we omitted the device <acronym class="acronym">MAC</acronym> address. 
			</p><p>
			One can quickly and easily create a default network by connecting each device,  in turn, to the local host and executing this command shown above. The devices will then form a network when connected via the powerline. Although fast and simple, this method is not very secure because the default <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> is used by many Atheros tools and is well known.
				</p><p>
			There are cases where one wants to create separate, independent networks on the powerline. This is accomplished by programming some devices with one <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> and other devices with another <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym>. In such cases we need to specify an <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> value.
			</p><div class="example"><a name="idp22292368"></a><p class="title"><b>Example 5.10. 
				Forming a Custom Network
				</b></p><div class="example-contents"><pre class="screen">
# int6k -M -K 00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF 
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Set Local Network Membership Key
eth1 00:B0:52:BA:BA:56 Setting ...
</pre><p>
			This example programs the local device <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> with the value <strong class="userinput"><code>00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF</code></strong>. Option <strong class="userinput"><code>-K</code></strong> sets the default key value used by option <strong class="userinput"><code>-M</code></strong>. The default device is programmed because we omitted a target <acronym class="acronym">MAC</acronym> address from the command line but we could have specified the local device using the actual device MAC address or the Local Management Address (<acronym class="acronym">LMA</acronym>) of <strong class="userinput"><code>00:B0:52:00:00:01</code></strong> or the keyword <strong class="userinput"><code>local</code></strong>,  like so ...
			</p><pre class="screen">
# int6k -M -K 00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF 
# int6k -M -K 00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF 00:B0:52:BA:BE:56
# int6k -M -K 00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF local
</pre></div></div><br class="example-break"><div class="example"><a name="idp22296488"></a><p class="title"><b>Example 5.11. 
				Remote Network Configuration
				</b></p><div class="example-contents"><p>
				Once a network has been established, one can change the <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> of remote devices over the powerline but once the <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> on the remote device has changed, it is no longer part of original network and can no longer be returned to the network in the same way. Additionally, one cannot change the <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> on a remote device without specifying the <acronym class="acronym">DAK</acronym> of the device to be changed. 
				</p><pre class="screen">
# int6k -M -K 00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF \
        -J 00:B0:52:BA:BE:57 \
        -D A7:8E:11:FB:6A:90:2C:CB:A7:8E:11:FB:6A:90:2C:CB
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Set Remote Network Membership Key
eth1 00:B0:52:BA:BA:56 Setting ...
</pre><p>
			This example sets the <acronym class="acronym">NMK</acronym> on remote device via the local device. Option <strong class="userinput"><code>-J</code></strong> specified the <acronym class="acronym">MAC</acronym> address of the remote device. Option <strong class="userinput"><code>-D</code></strong> specified the DAK of the remote device. The request is sent to the local device, because we omitted the target <acronym class="acronym">MAC</acronym> address, and the local device forwards our request to the remote device. The request will fail if the remote device is not accessible or the remote device <acronym class="acronym">DAK</acronym> is incorrect.
			</p><p>
			This command is one of the more complicated <a class="ulink" href="int6k.7.html" target="_top">int6k</a> commands,  requires lots of typing and is consequently prone to typing errors. The order of command line options is not important.
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